General Trade, Mining and Manufacturing

General Trade, Mining and Manufacturing

The ETU offer six general scholarships every single year with each scholarship valued at $2,000. These scholarships are available to ETU members, their children and their grandchildren. To qualify, you must be enrolled in studies in an approved course at a registered training organisation at diploma level or higher.

To apply for one of six annual general scholarships download the application form. Conditions apply (see application form). Applications are being accepted for 2017 and close at 4.30pm Friday 30 June, 2017. Successful applicants to be notified by 31 July, 2017.

With the footy season gearing up the ETU Footy Tipping Comp is now open for people to join. Try your hand a tipping your weekly favourites and get you workmates to join in the fun.

We will again be giving away periodical prizes through the season based on weekly results while the overall competition winner will receive one free week accommodation at the ETU Holiday Cabins at Nambucca Heads on the NSW Mid-North Coast.

ETU members should take appropriate action depending on your individual health and work situation, including but not limited to taking regular breaks, conducting individual (personal) risk assessment and/or ceasing work completely.

Members should exercise extreme care as temperatures rise. If you have any questions about working in heat please contact your workplace delegate or ETU organiser.

Unions NSW will be holding a lunchtime Workers Compensation rally outside NSW Parliament on 4 November 2016 at 12:30pm

The rally coincides with public hearings for the first review of the 2012 workers compensation changes.

Unions NSW has made an extensive submission to the Law and Justice Committee painting a horrifying picture of the scale of the devastation wreaked by the changes to workers compensation: from suicides to soup kitchens and everything in between.

At the rally on 4 November 2016 we will be hearing from injured workers and highlighting the harsh impact of the 2012 changes on the injured workers of NSW and their families.

There will also be regional events:

Wollongong - 31 October 2016
Orange - 2 November 2016
Newcastle - 3 November; and
A date for an event in Lismore is being finalised.

By keeping the pressure on the Government about workers comp we have won significant changes including more than doubling the medical cap and reducing the threshold for lifetime cover among other changes. This rally is an important part of our plan to keep winning improvements to the scheme.

A snap shot of the current status of Manufacturing in NSW would reveal some manufacturing industries are doing reasonably well in our competitive environment, these manufacturers are predominantly supporting the building and construction development both Commercial and Domestic.

Other manufacturers in Food and Beverage Equipment and Service are facing takeovers, selloffs and mergers usually making workers Redundant.

The overwhelming majority of manufacturing employers are surviving on marginal financial bottom lines bringing in to question their ability to provide future jobs , train new employees and engage apprentices.

Wage increases have been slowing and in many instances members are experiencing no increases while their Senior Management staff experience large Bonuses for cutting costs including cutting staff.

Members should be very much aware of tactics being adopted by Employers during negotiations of their Enterprise Agreements whereby, to get your job performed at a cheaper rate in the future they are offering members’ wage increases if they accept a new set of pay rates and conditions for new starters.

This results in current members having their rates ‘grandfathered’ and the lower rates will apply to all new starters resulting in two class of workers doing the same work for different rates of pay.

This is selling out our childrens future by trading good wages and conditions for a wage increase.

Members should be wary of this approach to bargaining and contact your Organiser in the event this occurs.

It is now becoming all too common.

Manufacturing continues to barely survive without Government support or Protection and for now remains in Intensive Care.

The NSW Branch of the ETU/CEP has donated $10,000 towards the fighting fund to support the 55 sacked CUB workers in Melbourne who are members of the ETU and the AMWU.

On top of this NSW construction industry members chipped in a further $2,000 out of their own pocket while an AMWU/ETU fundraiser last Wednesday night saw another $5,000 raised bringing the total to almost $20,000.

ETU Secretary Steve Butler said that the actions of CUB were un-Australian which is a far reach from a company that trades so heavily on what it is to be an Australian.

“As an act of solidarity these funds will be provided to help support the effected workers and assist their campaign for full re-instatement” said NSW Secretary Steve Butler.

“This is what being union is all about, standing united and supporting each other in times of need.”

“I have personally visited the picket line in Melbourne and I have meet these workers and understand what they are going through as a result of this bastard act from their employer.”

“I am proud of our membership in NSW for stepping up to the plate to support our brothers and sisters in Victoria during this dispute.” said Steve.

“I encourage all members, their families and friends to consider supporting other brands when next visiting the local bottle shop.” Steve said

The ETU representing more than 70,000 people working in high-skill blue-collar trades has welcomed the news that a Labor government will invest in Australian steel.

The announcement of a joint investment in a $150 million steel reserve between federal labor and the South Australian governments demonstrated a realistic and credible plan for Australian steel, Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union (CEPU) national industrial officer Matt Murphy said on Thursday.

Mr Murphy said that the announcement would help troubled South Australian steelmaker Arrium weather the current steel glut and return to health.

“Arrium has been teetering on the edge of a financial cliff for months, and if it falls it takes thousands of Australian steel and manufacturing jobs with it,” he said.

“It’s testament to the co-operative efforts of working people, administrators and creditors that we have kept the company alive, but we need credible long-term leadership from government. Until today it has been absent.”

Mr Murphy called on the federal government to match the ALP’s commitment.

“It’s beyond ideology at this point – people’s livelihoods are at stake. Malcolm Turnbull knows a good idea when he sees it, and one has been put in front of him.”

“It’s time for the government of Australia to support its steel industry the same way our major trading partners do.”

“Anything less from Turnbull represents a failure of leadership. It’s time to show that the government’s commitment to industry extends beyond slipping on a hi-vis for photo ops.”